Snapshots of Spence Elementary
by Royal Typewriter
Summary: Gemma and Company...about ten years into the past. Pretty much plotless drabble, but I think it's cute.
1. First Grade

"Mommy, no…I'm not ready yet." I tugged my mother's sleeve, not yet mentally set to enter the classroom.

"Gemma, sweetheart, you have to go inside to meet your new teacher." She smiled and tried to pull me forward. I wouldn't budge.

"I'm scared," I admitted finally. "What if the other kids don't like me?"

"Don't worry," my mother said, smiling. "Here. Mommy will let you wear her special necklace for your first day of school." She slipped off the chain and gently set it over my head. My eyes widened.

"_Really_? You're going to let me wear it _all day_?"

"As long as you come inside and meet the rest of your class." She held the door open again, and I cautiously stepped inside, clinging onto her skirt the entire time. There were many other children just my age, and a woman sitting casually at her desk, observing the scene. My mother made her way over to the desk.

"Hello, I'm Virginia Doyle, and this is my daughter Gemma." I buried my face in her skirt, but curiosity got the best of me and I sneaked a peek at my new teacher.

"It's wonderful to meet you, Gemma," the lady said. "My name is very easy to remember…it's Mrs. Nightwing. Can you say that?"

"Mrs. Nightwing," I mumbled.

"Ah, you're a very bright little girl." Mrs. Nightwing smiled. "How about we take you over to meet some of the other children in your class?"

"Okay," I decided, allowing her to take my hand and lead me to a group of girls playing with board games. She tapped the one with shining blonde-almost-white hair on the shoulder, and she turned to face her, beaming.

"Felicity, this is Gemma Doyle. Do you think you could be my special helper today and help her get to know everyone?"

"Okay!" Felicity stood up and smoothed her blue dress. "Hi, Gemma!"

"Hi. I like your name, it's pretty." _All_ of her was pretty, actually, from her white-blonde hair to her gray eyes. Even at the young age of six, I couldn't stand my wild curly red hair. I sort of liked my green eyes, but definitely not my name.

"I know." She grinned at me and took my hand. "Gemma, this is Pippa, my very best friend." Another girl who was laying on her stomach flipping through a sticker book of horses rolled over and sat up. If Felicity was pretty, this girl was _super_ pretty. I'd never seen anyone with purple eyes before.

"Hello, Gemma." Pippa didn't smile at all. "Where did you get your dress?"

"Oh, this?" I looked down at my favorite green outfit with the flowers on it. "My mom made it for me."

"That explains it, then." She smiled then, but it wasn't a nice smile. I didn't like it.

"Explains…what?"

"It explains why it looks so weird." She laughed and went back to her book. Felicity sat back down to the board game with the two other girls. "These are Cecily and Martha," she said without looking up.

"Could I play with you guys?"

"No." She still didn't look up. I felt my face get all hot like it did when I got caught climbing the counters to find cookies.

"Why not?"

"Because we don't like you."

"But…but…Mrs. Nightwing said…"

"Mrs. Nightwing said I had to tell you everyone's names. She didn't say I had to let you play with me." Felicity gave me a mean look. "Go away, new girl."

I felt my eyes fill with tears, and out of habit looked for my mother. In my absence, she had taken her leave. Trying not to cry, I made my way to a desk where another girl sat coloring. I sat down and put my head in my arms. She sniffled.

"My name's Ann."

It took me a moment to realize she was talking to me.

"Oh…hi. Mine's Gemma."

"Those girls are mean to everyone. It's okay." She picked up a purple crayon and kept making her picture.

"But I haven't done anything to them."

"You don't have to have done anything. They're like that anyway."

"Are they like that to you?" I asked, almost whispering. Ann paused and took out another pack of crayons. They were all snapped in half.

"They did that to my crayons just because I got the last chocolate milk at lunch last week," she answered. "But I'm used to it."

"Well, it's not very nice." I wasn't sad anymore, just mad.

"You're new here." I hadn't seen anyone coming, so I was surprised to see a boy with dark hair and huge eyes looking at me.

"Yes, I am. Are you?"

"Of course not. If I was, how would I have known you were new?"

"Oh."

"My name is Kartik. And you're Gemma."

"How did you know that?"

"All you have to do is listen when people talk, and then you don't have to ask as many questions."

"Oh. I never thought of it like that."

"Of course not."

"You say that a lot," I said, giggling.

"Of course I do."

"Kartik, where'd you go?" Another boy with big eyes came over, but his were gold. This was definitely a weird school…everyone had strange-colored eyes.

"I just came to say hi to Gemma."

"Gemma's the new girl!"

"Very good, Ithal." Kartik rolled his eyes. For a first-grader, he sure talked like he was a lot older. "Come on, let's go play with cars before you hurt yourself." And he was gone.

"How'd you make him talk?" Ann asked, eyes wide. "He hardly ever talks to anyone unless Mrs. Nightwing makes him."

"I don't know, I just sat down here."

No sooner did I get done saying that than _another_ boy jumped into the desk next to ours and said, "I'm Simon Middleton, and I'm the smartest boy ever!"

"What makes you say that?" I asked quizzically.

"Because I _am_, silly. I'm the smartest, best boy in the whole class." He didn't say it in a mean way, he just said it like he thought it was true. It made me smile.

"And you're the prettiest. Will you be my girlfriend?" He asked, holding out a Gummy Bear. From across the room, I heard, '_Simon! You're supposed to be my boyfriend! Get back here!' _And Felicity got up to run after him.

"Gotta go!" Simon sprung off his chair and took off towards the teacher's desk.

"Simon wants to be everyone's boyfriend," Ann informed me, drawing a flower. Then, so quietly I almost didn't hear her, she added, "except for mine." I didn't know what to say to her, so I just nodded.

"Class, it's time to line up to go to lunch," Mrs. Nightwing called. Everyone rushed to the door to get in line, where Mrs. Nightwing counted everyone and opened the door. I was behind that boy, Ithal, who wasn't very smart for a boy his age. He walked right into the water fountain. We got to the cafeteria, where lots of other kids from other grades were talking and eating. Some of the kids in my class went straight to the yellow class table, but I got in line with Ann, Kartik, Felicity, Pippa and a few others to buy mine. The lady handed me a cheeseburger, an apple, and some chips. I went down the line and picked out a strawberry milk, then handed the cashier the dollar my mother had given me to use.

Without asking, I followed Ann to the table. She was pretty much the only one who'd been nice to me, so I thought we could stick together.

Felicity, Pippa, Cecily and Martha sat as far away from everyone else as possible, but talked and laughed so loudly you could be sure they were right next to us. We finished eating quickly because as soon as we were done, we were allowed to go to recess, and I was so eager to play at that park. I couldn't wait to get on the swings.

Finally, Mrs. Nightwing let us go outside. Everyone scattered. Felicity and her friends left to play jump rope, and I started to the swings, but stopped when I saw a group of older boys. They looked mean, and I didn't know what to do.

"Come on, Gemma. We'll go find a swing." Kartik had popped up again, scaring me but relieving me. He took my hand and led me over, where he reached for one of the chains.

"What do you think _you're_ doing, pipsqueak?" One of them laughed meanly.

"I'm grabbing a swing, what does it look like?"

"Sorry, but you know the rules, first-grade-baby. This swing-set is for members of the fifth-grade Rakshana club _only_."

"What does Rakshana even mean?" I asked before I could stop myself.

"Oh, they're just a bunch of babies too. They named it after a character on that show _Mouse Tales_."

"Hey! Watch what you say, you little runt!" One of the other boys pushed him over.

"Stop it!" I yelled, stamping my foot. "You're not a nice boy!"

"Of course I'm not," he growled. "You better back off, squirt."

"I will _not_ back off! You're just a big bully!"

"Well, if you like, I could push you too." He started to come in my direction. Without thinking, I repeated something I'd heard my mother say on occasion: "You will do NO such thing!" When he actually did push me, I was slightly surprised, but even more angry. I stood up and punched him in the stomach as hard as I could, like I had seem my dad do his car when it wouldn't start. He looked shocked and fell backwards.

"Don't _ever_ push me again! Ever!" I screamed. "And leave Kartik alone too, or else!" With that, I grabbed him and stomped off to the jungle gym.

"That was really brave," he said, sounding very shocked. I just nodded again and sat up on one of the bars. He sat with me, and we watched everyone else play until Mrs. Nightwing blew her whistle.

When we went back in, I sat down with Ann, but Felicity came over, all smiles. I didn't expect to see her here, after the way she'd talked to me before.

"Ann, would you like to come look at stickers with us?" She didn't even look at me. "We saved some especially for you."

Ann didn't say anything for a minute, but then she looked happy and replied, "okay!" On her way, she turned and gave me a sad look. I just shrugged. It wasn't my fault, she was the one who'd told me they were mean. I took her crayons and started making my own drawing when I heard Felicity scream again.

"You took my ring! You did, I saw you!"

"No, no, I didn't! I would never! I didn't, I promise!" Ann looked so scared, I wanted to go hug her. I just didn't really know what was happening. Mrs. Nightwing rushed to their area.

"Mrs. Nightwing, she _stole_ the ring my father gave me! I saw her do it!"

"Ann, did you take the ring?" Mrs. Nightwing asked gently.

"No! I wouldn't ever take her ring, I promise!"

"Well, look in her pocket! It's in there!" Felicity whined.

"Ann, dear?" Mrs. Nightwing gestured to her. "Please empty your pockets."

She turned her pockets out, and the ring fell to the floor! Everyone gasped, and Ann just looked so sad. I knew it wasn't her fault, because she hadn't even talked to Felicity until just then. The other girls all smiled, and I knew right then.

"Mrs. Nightwing, it wasn't Ann's fault! Felicity dropped it while she was skipping rope, and Ann just…just took it so it wouldn't get squished…people were jumping around so much, it would have been ruined…so it wasn't really her fault at all!" I couldn't believe I had just _lied_. My mother would have sent me to my room for a whole hour for making that up.

"Why didn't she give it back, then?" Felicity asked.

"She couldn't, because you wouldn't talk to her if she'd tried. Besides, she just wanted to wait till later so it wouldn't fall off again."

"Well, then, it seems as though you owe Ann an apology, Felicity," Mrs. Nightwing said sternly. "Next time, make sure they've actually stolen it before you tattle."

"I'm sorry, Ann," Felicity muttered, looking angry and holding out her hand for the ring. Everyone sort of calmed down and went back to what they were doing. I didn't feel very bad, actually, because Ann hadn't done anything wrong in the first place.

"You'll be sorry, little Miss Doyle," I heard Felicity say. I kept walking.

"Thanks for that, Gemma. No one ever stands up for me like that…especially not to her."

"It's no problem," I answered. "She had it coming to her."

During story time, when Mrs. Nightwing read us a Ramona book, Ann sat right with me. I was pretty sure we were friends by then.

After we were done reading three chapters, people's moms started coming in to get them. Ithal's mom took both him and Kartik home, and Felicity's dad picked up her and all her friends.

It seemed like ages before my mommy finally got there, and I ran to give her a hug.

"How did you like your first day, sweetheart?" She asked, brushing my hair out of my eyes.

"It was…a lot of fun," I said finally.

"Well, I'm so happy to hear that." She set me down. "How would you like to get some ice cream before we go home?"

"A whole lot!" I cried. "Can we get chocolate?"

"Of course."

I'm thinking of either doing the whole first-grade year, or just doing a chapter for each year. Like, the next one would be her in second grade, and so forth. Or just random school years. I don't know. But what I do know is, no one will know for sure unless you tell me what you think! 


	2. Second Grade

"Has everyone got their permission slips?" Mrs. Nightwing stood at the front of the room and waited for us to get them out of our backpacks. "Remember, if you don't have it, then you'll have to stay here with our room mother today." Mrs. Cross waved from the side table, and Pippa gleefully waved back, pulling her permission slip out of her pink flowered folder.

Once Mrs. Nightwing had checked all of us, she told us to get in a single file line for the bus. Felicity pushed her way to the front, as usual, and took her favorite seat, right by a window. Pippa sat next to her, and Martha and Cecily sat behind them.

I decided to go all the way to the back, because I always love the view from there. I put my feet up on the seat with me so I could see out the window better.

"Hey, is anyone going to sit here?" Kartik stood next to the seat, almost sitting anyway.

"Nope, go ahead." I only hoped he wouldn't just ignore me the whole time. Sometimes Kartik would talk to me, and sometimes it was like we weren't even friends. I've always heard my mother say 'men are from an entirely different planet' and I think I'm starting to see why.

Mrs. Nightwing counted everyone's heads, sat down, and nodded to the bus driver that it was okay to go now.

I was pretty excited, because I'd never been to an aquarium before. We were studying under the sea in class, and now we got to go on a field trip there. My dad said they were lots of fun, and I couldn't wait.

"Are you looking forward to this trip?" Kartik asked after a bit. I smiled. I can't help it, I like when we talk. I don't get why sometimes he acts like we don't know each other.

"Yeah! How about you?"

"I am, actually. I like sea life."

Ithal popped up from the seat in front of us, his curly hair already a bigger mess than usual from bouncing around so much.

"Kartik! Did you know they have a food court at the aqua…aqua…" He paused and looked distraught. After a moment, he whimpered, "_Kartik?"_

"It's okay, Ithal, we can get through this." He propped himself up on his knees. "Say it with me. Ah-quer-ee-um."

"Ah-quer-eh-quer-quer…"

"Take your time," Kartik suggested. Ithal scrunched up his eyes and took a deep breath.

"Ah-quer-ee-um?"

"You got it!" Kartik actually smiled, and not in the usual 'let's get you some help' way.

"Aquarium!"

"What were you saying?" I prompted.

"Oh! Yes! They have a food court there!"

"What's so great about that?" I didn't quite get it.

"Gemma!" Ithal's eyes widened. "They have _good food_ there! Like French fries and everything!"

"Oh. That sounds pretty good!"

"I told you." Ithal blinked his gold eyes that, even after a year and a half, still looked slightly weird, and turned back around.

"Sometimes I wonder if he'd remember to breathe if I wasn't here to remind him," Kartik said after a moment.

About ten minutes later, we arrived in front of a _huge_ building. It was bigger that my whole house! Everyone got off the bus, and stood in line like Mrs. Nightwing showed us.

"Who's ready to see fish?" Mrs. Nightwing asked.

"Me!" Simon squealed, jumping off the steps. He'd put sunscreen all over his face even though we were going to be inside a dark building…and even I couldn't understand why he had pink sunglasses around his neck.

"Simon, we're going to be inside. What's all that for?" Mrs. Nightwing asked.

"My mommy says you can never be too careful, especially with a peaches-and-cream complexion like mine," he declared, grinning widely. Mrs. Nightwing just nodded and quickly turned to lead us inside.

It was even bigger in the building than outside! The carpet was purple and green, with silver fish drawn on it. The walls were blue and shiny, and there were huge desks, elevators, and stairs leading around the aquarium.

"Wow! I hope we don't get lost," I whispered to Ann.

"Well, you _would_." Felicity sneered from behind me. "But if Bradshaw here got lost, no one would miss her."

"Oh yeah? Well, if _you_ went back to outer space where you belong, no one would miss you either. Come on, Ann, let's go." With that, I grabbed her hand and took her over by the other kids. When I turned around, her mouth was still hanging open.

"Now, class, we're going to start with the dolphin exhibit, and walk around the museum from there."

"When's lunch?" I heard someone ask.

"Ithal, we're going to eat lunch at noon. Any other questions?"

"Will we get to look at the gift shop?" Pippa piped up, flipping her specially curled hair.

"At the end, yes. Those of you who have spending money will be allowed to look at the shop."

After a minute, we all went down the dark hall. Everyone said 'oh!' at the dolphins…they were so pretty! It looked like they were smiling at us, and there was even a baby one swimming around.

"Which one's the mom dolphin?" Cecily asked.

"It's that one there, see? See how the baby goes to swim with her when they go up for air?" Mrs. Nightwing pointed.

We saw some trout, and crabs too. Pippa screamed out loud, even though they couldn't do anything from their tanks. She even used Felicity as a shield when we went by the sharks. I don't know what she thought they were going to do.

When we got to the stingray part, Felicity got bored, I guess, and decided to bother Ann.

"Hey, Bradshaw, we should throw you in there so they could have something to play with."

"Felicity, go away," Ann muttered.

"Who's going to make me? Mrs. Nightwing's over there, and it's not like Gemma's going to do anything about it. No one wants you here anyway."

Pippa nodded, and Martha and Cecily did this weird secret-handshake looking thing.

"Leave her alone, Felicity, she hasn't done anything."

It was too late, though. By the time I turned around, Ann's eyes had filled with tears and her nose had begun to turn red. I started to say 'Ann…' but she sniffled, turned around and ran down the other hallway.

"You made her leave!" I yelled. "She could get lost!"

"Well, good." Pippa rolled her eyes. "Then we'd all be happy."

"At least Ann's not scared of a crab." And then I ran after her. I had to! She was going to get lost, and if I didn't find her soon, there'd be no way to. I followed the path I was pretty sure she'd taken, and ended up on a floor I didn't recognize. There were big signs all around, another elevator, and what looked like a slide off in the distance. What I didn't see was Ann. Lots of other people, but no Ann.

I ran around the whole place, and even checked the slide. She wasn't there. We were going to be in _so_ much trouble. Then I realized that no one might find me either, and got super scared. I sat down on one of the benches and put my head down. What if no one realized I was gone? What if my mom forgot about me?

"Gemma, what are you doing up here?"

"Kartik?" I'd never been so happy to see him in my life! I jumped right off the bench and hugged him.

"Gemma, calm down!" He scraped my arms off him and shook his hair. "What happened?"

"I'm looking for Ann, and I can't find her."

"Here, I'll help you look. You and Ithal both, it's like I'm your mother." But he was smiling when he said it.

After a minute, we walked by one of the potted plants and heard sniffling. Ann!

Sure enough, there she was, right behind the pot. I rushed over and hugged her too. "Oh, Ann! We thought you were gone forever! What were you thinking?"

"I don't know. I just sort of ran."

"We noticed." Kartik helped her stand up, then backed towards the door. "C'mon, this way. We're getting ready to have lunch."

"Does Mrs. Nightwing know we're gone?" I was scared again.

"It's okay, I told her you both had to go to the bathroom, and that I'd go get you. We have to get back right now though."

Kartik took us to the escalator, and we all rode down together, one on each side of Ann. By the time we got to the bottom, she'd stopped crying.

"There you all are. Next time, please check with me before leaving for the restroom, is that understood?" Mrs. Nightwing looked at us sternly.

"Understood."

"Well, no harm done. Nature calls, you know. Here, we have your food." She led us to our table, shaped like a big wave. There were burgers and fries on each tray, and we took one.

Ithal was right…aquarium food _was_ good. I wondered if my mom would bring me here for my birthday dinner.

When everyone was finished, we were allowed to look around the gift shop. Pippa squealed when she saw a mermaid doll, and Simon found a shirt that said "Water You Waiting For? Visit The Aquarium!"

I looked around, and found something I _really_ wanted to get. It was a silver bracelet with ocean charms on it…like a fish, a jellyfish, a sun…all those nice things! It was only five dollars, so I decided I could get it. My mommy had given me ten for spending, and I would have…five left over. I picked it up, and looked for something pretty for her.

There it was! She would love it! It was a snow-globe with all sorts of under the sea decorations on it. My mommy collected snow-globes, and I had just enough money left.

When we got back on the bus, I put on my new bracelet, and made sure my gift was safe in my backpack. I didn't want it breaking, because that would just ruin everything.

Kartik sat with me again, but this time he didn't say much. Everyone was so tired from walking around all day, I didn't blame him. I put my head on the window and looked outside for awhile.

When I sat back up, I noticed something on my lap that hadn't been there before.

"Kartik, did you drop your stuffed crab?" I held it up so he could see. It was red with big eyes and fluffy claws.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," he said, looking at it and putting his head back down.

When the bus got back to school, I ran after him.

"Kartik! This is your crab, because I know it's not mine! Is it Ithal's?"

"No, it's yours."

"It's not mine, I don't have a stuffed crab!"

Now I really got what my mom said about men being from a different planet. He wasn't making _any_ sense!

"You do now." He smiled and waved, then got into his mom's van.

My own mother drove up in her car and honked the horn cheerfully at me. I waved goodbye to Mrs. Nightwing and got inside.

"How was the aquarium, Gem?"

"It was great! I got you a present!" I couldn't wait to tell her all about it.

"What an adorable little crab! Did you buy it?"

"No, I think it's Kartik's, but he keeps saying it's mine."

She just smiled. Grown-ups and boys! They're both so weird.

"Come on, Gemma. Let's hear all about your day."

Second-grade snapshot, done. 


	3. Third Grade

"Now, who's ready to hear about the class play we're going to put on?" Ms. Moore sat up on her purple desk and waited. It's like she knew we were going to come running the minute we heard her ask. Seconds later, we were all sitting in front of the desk, cross-legged, completely excited.

"As you all know, it's winter, and so this seems only fitting. I was hoping all of you could help me put on a play about Christmas…now what do you think of that?"

Everyone cheered and there were smiles all around as Ms. Moore got out her notebook.

"What's it about, Ms. Moore?" Simon piped up from the side corner.

"She said it was about Christmas, Dimwit Middleton," Felicity snapped.

"Felicity!" Ms. Moore gave her a sharp look. "You know we will have none of that talk in my classroom." Felicity wasn't used to being scolded last year, because most of the teachers just let her have her way. Ms. Moore didn't really, though. She was fair with everyone, including her. Everyone knew Felicity didn't like it, but like most of them said, it was about time. It was actually funny, because she got her first time-out a few weeks ago, and she still hasn't stopped whining about it.

"Miss Moore, who's the _star_ of your play?" Pippa tossed her curls.

"I'll explain right now, if everyone could give me their attention." At that, there was silence.

"Now, this play is one I wrote myself called _Winter Miracles._ It's about a land, a beautiful place where everything is perfect. There are four fairies who live there, one for each season. One day, one of the fairies finds a door leading someplace she's never been before, called the Winterlands. Everything there is dark and scary, and ruled by an evil queen who doesn't know the joys of the other land. The fairies, along with lots of other people I've written in the script, have to bring Christmas to the Winterlands and spread joy across the realms—I mean lands." She beamed and glanced around. "Well, what do you think?"

It sounded _amazing!_ I couldn't wait to start!

"I have two questions, Miss Moore," Simon said again.

"Two questions? One at a time, if you please."

"What are the names of the characters?"

"I have a list here, which I'll gladly explain after your next question."

"Okay, well, my second one is, how do you pick who's who?"

"Both excellent questions, Simon. I'll get right on that." She flipped her pages until she got to her list and read. "Listen up, everyone. Do you want to hear girl parts or boy parts first?"

There were shouts of 'boy!' 'girl!' all around the room. Finally, Ithal snapped out of the daze he was in and commented, "the letter B comes before the letter G!"

"Did you just figure that out?" Cecily asked, open-mouthed.

"No, Ithal makes a good point. We'll read from the boy's list first."

All the girls grumbled under their breath, but were quieted by Miss Moore snapping the paper.

"For our main boy characters, we have Ivan, the male wizard who lives by the fairies, as well as Freeze, Ivan's friend, and Joseph, the music-player." She then listed the names of a few minor boy parts, then opened to the girl roles.

"And for our lovely ladies, we have Crystal, the winter fairy; Autumn, the fall fairy; Rose, the spring fairy; and Ray, the summer fairy. There are also a few smaller parts, like flower-gatherers and tree-decoraters."

"Those are good parts!" Simon squealed gleefully. "But how are you going to pick?"

"I'm going to have everyone choose what part they want, and everyone who wants the same one will have to read some of my script out loud and we'll see who does best. There are enough roles for everyone, remember." She smiled. "Now, who has a part in mind?"

"Ooooh! Me!" Cecily raised her hand. "I want to be Rose!"

"No, you don't," Pippa snapped. "You haven't got the right complexion for it, and besides, I'd probably look better in the outfit." Cecily lowered her hand, looking dejected.

"Pippa," Ms. Moore warned. "I might add that everyone has an equal chance."

"That's what they tell us all down at the modeling industry." Pippa tossed her hair. "And who's the one who always gets picked to advertise in the Sears catalogue?"

Ms. Moore gave her a strange look before quickly getting back to her paper.

"Ms. Moore?" Simon raised his hand. "If I felt I could bring more into the part of, say, Autumn or Crystal, would I be considered?"

"Simon, those are girl parts." She looked slightly appalled.

"This is a sexist system." He crossed his arms angrily and scooted back near Ithal. I think by that time Ms. Moore was wondering what exactly had possessed her to become an elementary school teacher.

"Let's, um…let's hold off on the questions for now and start assigning parts so we can begin working on it after lunch."

Everyone lined up by the desks and were called up in whatever order they'd come in. I was standing in between Martha and Ithal, and Pippa, of course, was first.

"Read these lines here, Pippa." Ms. Moore circled them with her pen and moved to her chair.

Pippa read very well, to most of our surprise. It was a little strange, because I guess we'd all expected her to think she was better than she was. I think, though, that she really liked the idea of acting. She was good.

Simon was next, and he grudgingly settled for reading for the part of Freeze. After he got done, he muttered something about needing a Vitamin Water and stalked off.

Everyone else in front of me got their chances to read, and I noticed most people gravitated toward the main characters. I shook my head. Boy, would they be disappointed. Almost half the girls in the class had tried out for Rose, and there was only one spot.

"Gemma!" Ithal poked me in the back. "You're next after Martha."

"Thank you, Ithal." I rolled my eyes. "I don't know what I would've done if you hadn't been here." He beamed.

"What part do you want?" he bounced back and forth.

"I don't know. Autumn, I guess."

"I want to be a flower-gatherer!"

"Really?" I was a little taken by surprise. Everyone else had a definite lead in mind. "Why, Ithal?"

"I arrange them great." He nodded with confidence. "My mom doesn't trust anyone else to put together a rockin' bouquet for her wedding planning business."

I stared. "Ithal, that sounded…smart!"

"And I don't blame her," he continued. "Half the people who work for her don't know the difference between a tiger lily and a pansy. Can you imagine?"

I couldn't.

Martha read for Ray, and then Ms. Moore called me up. She showed me her script and I pointed to the part of Autumn.

"Hardly anyone else has asked for that one," she smiled. "Go ahead."

I looked over the lines. It actually seemed like a pretty fun role. I read the highlighted lines out loud and actually smiled. Autumn had a lot of the good lines.

"That was excellent, Gemma." Ms. Moore put a check mark next to my name, like she did with everyone else who'd read already. "Okay, who's next?"

Ithal bounded up. "Ms. Moore, I was really hoping I could grab the part of the manliest flower gatherer on your list."

By now she knew better than to argue. "Well, I have Roy here," she said, checking the paper. "He's the only male one."

"I'll take it!" Grinning, he walked back to his desk.

"He didn't even try out," Pippa whined.

"I don't think anyone else is going to be fighting for that role," Ms. Moore affirmed.

I watched everyone else from my desk while I drew with my colored pencils. Kartik wanted to be Joseph, I could tell. When she'd mentioned him, he'd gotten an excited sort of snap in his eyes. He didn't smile though; it hadn't gotten him _that_ worked up. I'd hoped it would have.

"And last but not least, we have Felicity."

"Best for last," she replied. "I'm going to be Autumn." I gasped from my seat. Was she doing that on purpose?

"We'll see." Ms. Moore gave her the highlighted lines.

Felicity struggled through some of the lines, even though she acted like she knew what she was doing. I wondered if that was how she got people to agree with her so much; acting like she believed everything she said was the absolute truth.

Once she finished, Ms. Moore picked up her checklist.

"Well, we finished just in time. You may all go out for your recess, and I'll have decided by the time you get back." The bell rang just then, and everyone ran for the door.

"I'm taking that part," Felicity sang as she skipped to the grass where Pippa, Cecily and Martha weren't actually playing, just sort of sitting there looking nice.

Ann stood next to me. "I think you did better."

"You did very well too," I said. I remembered her trying out for Ray, and she'd really come out of her shell for it. "She's going to pick you for that role."

"You really think so?" She beamed without meaning to.

"Of course!" I pulled on her arm. "Come on, let's go play on the monkey bars."

I actually forgot about the whole thing until Ms. Moore blew her whistle, and that's when _every_one went nuts. It was like that stampede on the Lion King.

"Now, sit in your desks like civilized humans," she ordered. Once all of us were (more or less) sitting quietly, she pulled out the paper. "The part of Ivan goes to…"

The males in the room were silent.

"Simon!"

"He didn't even try out for that part!" Alex, one of the other boys protested.

"What can I say? I'm a leading man type of guy." He tossed his hair. I guess he'd forgotten about the sexist system, whatever that was.

"Alex, you get to be Freeze." Ms. Moore nodded at him. He also seemed to forget he'd been upset and lit up.

"Okay!"

"Our music-player will be Kartik."

Before he could stop himself, I heard a '_yes!'_ from the other side of the room. When I looked behind me, he was back to his usual serious self. "I mean—um…that's fine with me."

Ithal, as promised, was Roy the male flower-gatherer. I don't think I'd ever seen him happier. He stood up on his desk and promised Ms. Moore he'd arrange flowers for any of her upcoming special occasions. Then he fell off.

Ann, as I'd suspected, wiped the competition for Ray. Martha glared at her and she didn't even notice.

Also, as we'd all figured, Pippa got to be Rose. All the other girls looked sad, even when they were told they could be tree-decorators with lots of glitter.

"The role of Autumn will be played by…" Ms. Moore glanced around. All I could think was, please be me, please be me.

Felicity looked over her shoulder and gave me a smile that clearly said 'thanks for trying'.

"Felicity!" Ms. Moore shouted. I stopped breathing.

"_Yes!_" she bolted up.

Ms. Moore looked alarmed.

"No, no, Felicity, you were leaning back in your chair. You were about to fall. Please sit up."

She pulled the chair back and sat back down, waiting.

"As I was saying—Autumn will be played by Gemma!"

"Yay!" I wiggled in my chair a little. I couldn't wait to tell my mom.

"What?" Felicity looked from me to Ms. Moore and back again.

"Felicity, you get to be Crystal, the winter fairy instead."

"Were you typecasting, then?" I heard someone say. I turned around again, but no one was talking. I only saw Kartik smiling slightly.

"Well, that's the part I wanted anyway." Felicity slid back into her seat.

I heard Ms. Moore say something about an aspirin before she read off the rest of the minor roles. By the time she was done, most of the class was at least okay with what their parts were.

Now that that was finished—we had a lot of work to do.

For the next month or so, we all had to memorize lines and work on painting the set. I had never thought there was so much to do for one play. Everybody was really excited, because it was a lot of fun. Before we knew it, it was time for us to come to school at night to do the show. It was really weird being at school when it wasn't daytime, and everyone was rushing to get last-minute things done. Felicity thought her crown needed more glitter, and Pippa kept asking if her hair looked any good. Ithal was in his glory, because he'd gotten to help design the outfits. I liked what he'd done with mine. I had to hand it to Ithal; for someone who usually didn't know where he was, he was great with colors.

"Is everyone all set?" Ms. Moore asked, standing at the front of the room. "It's time to get to the auditorium." All the people around me got all bouncy and followed her into the hall and through the back door to the stage.

"Go see who's out there," Pippa nudged Cecily. She peeked behind the curtain and gasped.

"There must be a million people!"

"A million?" Ann swallowed hard.

"Ann, you'll be fine! You look really pretty." She did! Ithal was a genius, because her dress was a great shade of yellow.

"Do you think so?"

"Of course."

She smiled again. "I'm excited."

"Me too." I actually couldn't wait.

Ithal chased after Simon a moment, demanding he stop so he could fix that stray thread hanging off his shirt. After Ithal was satisfied, we heard Ms. Moore walk onto the stage and announce the show to all the parents. The whole audience started clapping!

"Break a leg, Gemma!" Kartik called.

"Why would you say something like that?" I loud-whispered back. Men!

"It means good luck," he hissed. "Just—oh, forget I said anything." He got back into the wings to wait for his turn to come out. I started to say it was fine, but then Ann nudged me.

"We're starting!"

The curtain came up and Cecily was right—there were a million people sitting there. At first I thought there was no way I was going to remember everything. I looked around to see if I could find anyone I knew, and I did! Tom was sitting right next to my mom, who was beside my dad. He gave me the thumbs-up, and my dad poked him.

I smiled and realized this was all going to work out great. Then I got ready—it was almost time for my first line.

**Ah! I forgot I'd left this story hanging. Well, that does it for the third grade. Shoot! Two more years and they're out of elementary! What am I going to do when they start hitting puberty? Oh, perish the thought. **

**-Katie**


End file.
